Which Part of the Golf Ball you Should Focus on and Want to Strike?

In golf, it helps to be as specific as possible.

For instance, rather than just aiming ‘for the fairway’, you should aim for a certain spot in the fairway which will provide you with the best angle to the green. Or, when putting, you don’t just want to determine that the putt is going to break a ‘little bit to the left’. You want to decide exactly how much break you expect, so you can strike the putt with purpose and confidence. By being as specific as possible, you should be able to elevate your game to a higher level.

This concept also applies when talking about your ball striking. Instead of just trying to hit the ball, it may be beneficial to think about striking a specific part of the ball at impact. By deciding in advance which part of the ball you want to strike, you may be easier to focus on executing your swing perfectly. Thinking this way could take a little getting used to, but your game will likely be better in the long run if you stick with it.

In this article, we are going to talk about the idea of aiming to hit the inside of the ball. This is a common tactic used by plenty of accomplished players, so you can be sure that it has the potential to help your game. What does it mean to aim for the inside of the ball? How could this help you play better golf? We’ll answer those questions and more in the content below.

It should be noted here before we get started that there are no guarantees in this difficult game. While this tip has the potential to help you shoot lower scores, it would be a mistake to take anything for granted. You’ll still need to work hard along the way, and you’ll still need to pay attention to the changes that are happening in your game and respond accordingly. Every golfer is unique, so what works perfectly for one player might not work at all for you. In the end, it is up to you to decide which tips and techniques to put into action, and which to leave in the bag.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

What Does It Mean to Hit the Inside of the Ball?

Before we can get into the nuts and bolts of how to actually strike the inside of the ball, and why you would want to do so, we first need to talk about what this means in the first place. After all, a new golfer might not even understand what part of the ball is considered the ‘inside’, nor may they have thought about the idea of hitting one specific part of the ball at impact. Let’s get into this topic and make sense of what we are talking about before going any further.

To get started, you need to understand that the inside of the golf ball is the part of the ball closest to your body. It is a good idea to think about the ball in halves while looking down from address – the half farthest away from your body is the outside half, and the half closest to you at address is the inside half. If it helps you to have a visual representation of this concept, you may wish to color one half of a practice golf ball with a marker. Then, set the ball down on the ground with the colored-in half closer to your body. You’ll now be able to see quite clearly which half is the inside of the ball, and which half is the outside.

At this point, we have identified the half of the ball you will be aiming for when trying to strike the ball on the inside. However, we can still reduce your target down even further. You are obviously going to need to hit near the back of the ball in order to send it toward the target, so the front half of the ball is out of the question as a contact point. In the end, you’ll want to strike the back of the ball, just inside of the middle of the golf ball, for most of your shots.

Let’s go back to the idea of drawing on your golf balls as a way to bring a visual element to this process. Take another golf ball and draw a line all the way around the ball (as even as you can – it’s not easy!). With a line drawn around the ball, set that ball down on the ground and position the line such that it is aligned with your target for this (imaginary) shot. Then, turn the ball just slightly, so that the line if directed slightly out to the right of your selected target. At this point, the portion of the line on the back half of the ball is going to be an ideal contact point for players trying to strike their shots on the inside.

We know the details discussed above can be a bit confusing, so take a minute to digest all of this information and think it through until you have a good grasp of the concept at hand. Remember, the inside of the ball is the side closest to your body at address, and you will want to strike the ball just slightly on the inside half in order to produce solid shots. If you were to hit the ball too far to the inside, you could run into problems such as a push or a hook.

Do keep in mind that it is not absolutely necessary to hit the inside of the golf ball in order to play at a high level. If you would rather play a fade, as opposed to a draw, you can work on striking the ball just on the outer half. This is a perfectly viable way to play the game, as long as it is what you are intending to do. There are a couple keys here to keep in mind. One, you want to be sure that you are keeping your contact point quite close to the actual back of the ball, whether you prefer to be a bit inside or outside. Also, you want to be sure that you hit the side of the ball you are intending to hit. It’s acceptable to hit either the inside or outside, but know in advance which side you are aiming for and then execute on that plan as successfully as possible.

The Selling Points

There are nearly endless decisions to make in the game of golf. From the clubs you choose to put in your bag to the courses you choose to play, and on and on, you are constantly making one decision after the next. Another decision you need to make is how you are going to attempt to strike the ball with your standard swing. To make that decision, you need to think through the pros and cons of the options available. The list below highlights the main ‘selling points’ of striking the inside of the golf ball at impact.

Produce a draw. Many amateur golfers dream of being able to hit a draw, as they equate this ball flight with a high level of play. While a large number of professional golfers actually prefer a fade to a draw, it is true that there is a lot to like about the draw pattern. Draws tend to travel a bit farther than fades, and they may also fare better in adverse weather conditions. If you are hoping to be a player who leans on a draw for most of your shots, striking the inside of the ball is a great starting point.

Pick up a few yards. In reality, striking the inside of the ball as opposed to the outside probably isn’t going to help you gain a dramatic amount of distance. You may wind up hitting your shots a little farther, however, for a couple reasons. First, you should be able to transfer the energy from your swing into the golf ball a little more efficiently. You’ll be swinging from the inside-out, meaning your body is in a powerful position at the moment of impact. Many golfers who hit the outside of the ball are simply swinging through with their hands and arms, as the rest of their body has been taken out of the action. Things will look different when you strike the inside of the ball, however. With an inside strike, your body should remain actively involved in the swing, and should be able to help the club tear through the ball with plenty of force. The other reason you may pick up distance has to do with spin rates. A player swinging from the inside should produce a little less backspin (depending on the club being used), and a lower backspin rate will often equate to a longer flight. Again, you shouldn’t expect to add major yardage to your shots by altering your strike point, but you do stand to pick up a bit of distance.

Steer clear of the slice. If you are a player who has been struggling for years to get rid of your slice, switching things up and trying to hit the inside of the ball may be just what you need to ditch that dreaded left-to-right flight once and for all. By striking the inside of the ball, you will be almost certain to impart draw spin, meaning you won’t have to worry about the slice anymore. This doesn’t mean all of your shots will be perfect, of course, but you should be able to get rid of the slice and move on to bigger and better things.

Hit lower shots on command. For players who are used to striking the outside of the ball, it can be difficult to create a lower trajectory on command. Hitting the outside of the ball is usually going to lead to a high backspin rate, after all, and high spin rates do not play nicely with the goal of hitting the ball low. Whether you want to play the ball down because of windy conditions or simply because you want to run the ball up to the hole, swinging from the inside is going to make it much easier to do so.

There is a lot to like about hitting the inside of the ball, but we aren’t trying to say that this is a perfect technique. There are some shortcomings with this method, and as you might guess, they are pretty much the opposite of the points above. For instance, you will probably not produce as much backspin when hitting from the inside, and you might want that extra backspin in order to stop the ball quickly on firm turf. Or, when your ball is sitting down in some rough, hitting from the outside is a great way to create a steeper swing path so you can get down to the ball without getting caught up in the grass.

In the end, we think that most players will find the ‘pros’ on this topic to outweigh the ‘cons’. Hitting the inside of the ball has a lot to offer, and you have to give up very little along the way. Of course, if you are particularly ambitious with your game, you could work on developing a couple different types of shots. You could strike the inside of the ball for most of your standard shots while also knowing how to hit the outside of the ball when the situation is right.

Three Keys to Make It Happen

If you’ve decided that you do want to strike the inside of the golf ball, your next step is to head out to the driving range to get down to work. Nothing comes easy in golf, and you certainly aren’t going to learn this shot just by reading an article on the internet. You have to get out into the world in order to learn how to make this happen, and we hope the three tips listed below will help you bring this kind of shot to life.

Take your time. Without a doubt, this is the most important thing you can learn from this article. When you want to strike the inside of the ball, you need to take your time during the swing. If you rush, your hands are going to move up away from your body during the transition, and you are almost certainly going to hit the outside of the ball coming through the hitting area. Take your time to finish the turn away from the target properly, and only start down when you are sure your body is in a good position. It is going to take some time to learn how to be patient during the swing, but the effort will be worth it. As a quick little drill to use during your range sessions, try pausing at the top of some of your practice swings. Don’t actually hit any shots when using this drill – just make a practice swing where you swing up to the top, pause for a second, and then swing down. You might be surprised to find how good this feels, and you should be able to carry over that feeling when you return to your regular swing. Obviously, you don’t want to continue with the extended pause when hitting normal shots, but you should feel like you are pausing just slightly while getting ready for the journey down into the ball.

Move the club back on the target line. You need to keep the club in a good position throughout the swing if you are going to strike the inside of the ball. That probably isn’t a surprise, but some golfers are surprised to learn just how important the takeaway is in their overall success or failure. If you swing the club back on the wrong path, it is going to be nearly impossible to correct your error later on. With regard to hitting the inside of the ball, you can actually get in trouble no matter which side of the line you miss on with your takeaway. Taking the club back too far to the outside will mean you would have to reroute the club dramatically at the top to get back in position. On the other hand, taking the club too far inside is going to cause you to run out of space at the top, and you might wind up pushing your hands away from your body just to make room. Do your best to take the club back directly on the target line in order to set yourself up for success later in the swing.

Lead the downswing with the lower body. If you are able to check off the first two points – taking your time and swinging back on the target line – you should be in great shape when you get to the top. With that said, your success is far from assured at this point. You still need to swing down correctly, and that means leading with your lower body. From the top of the swing, it should be your lower body that leads the way into the downswing and through the ball. Turn your hips through the shot and toward the target while the upper body lags behind. The timing of this part of the swing is crucial, as getting your lower body out ahead of your upper body is what will let you hit from the inside. As soon as the club arrives at the top of the swing – or even a moment before it arrives – start turning your left hip open toward the target. When you master this move, it will become easy to strike the inside of the ball time after time.

There is nothing magical or mysterious about hitting the inside of the golf ball. Success on this point comes down to practice, hard work, and understanding the proper fundamentals. We hope the three points above will help you whip your swing into shape during your upcoming practice sessions.

The Short Game is a Different Story

To wrap up our article, we want to point out that the short game is a completely different story with regard to striking the ball on the inner half. When putting and chipping, you do not want to hit either side of the ball, as doing so would send your shots in an unexpected direction. Rather, you want to hit perfectly on the back of the ball as often as possible. When you strike the back of the ball, it should head in the direction that you expected, which is a big part of succeeding in the short game. For a complicated game, playing well on the golf course often comes down to nothing more than mastering the basics. If you can hit your short game shots perfectly on the back of the ball with great consistency, there is a good chance your results are going to serve you well.

We hope you have taken away some valuable information from this article on aiming to hit the inside of the golf ball. While you don’t have to play this way in order to have success, we think many golfers out there will benefit from trying this approach. For one thing, it is a great way to get away from the slice, which is a swing problem that affects countless players. Also, golfers who have long wanted to produce a draw may be able to do so by attempting to strike the inside of the ball. Remember to be patient with yourself and look for signs of gradual progress along the way as your swing improves. Good luck!